The salvation of sinners through sacrifice and covenant
God is love. God loves humankind. God wants to save humankind from sin and restore fellowship and relationship with them. He initiated a path for salvation for humankind from sin. Salvation completely depends upon God, His grace, and His love. After the sin of Adam and Eve, God instituted a system of sacrifice and covenant for the salvation of humankind from sin. Let us look at the details.
What is Covenant?
After the fall of humankind due to sin, God started to work with them to save them from sin and its consequences by making a covenant. The Hebrew word used in the Bible for covenant is berit, which originally means “shackle” or “chain,” but it came to be used for any form of binding agreement.[1] A covenant is an agreement by which personal relationships are established. God’s covenant with humankind is based on the love and mercy of God. In a covenant relationship, both God and human beings are bound to deal with each other in love according to the terms of the agreement.
God made several covenants with humankind by which God offered a relationship with people at a particular time. Each time God revealed a new and different covenant, God’s purposes for humankind have been progressing. Let us look at the different covenants in the Bible:
Covenant with Adam and Eve
It is the first covenant between God and humankind. The details of this covenant can be seen in Genesis 1:28-30 and 2:15-17.
Covenant of Noah
This is an everlasting covenant with Noah and his descendants by which God promised that He would not destroy the earth with water again. The details of this covenant can be seen in Genesis 8:20-9:17.
Covenant of Abraham
It is a covenant with Abraham and his descendants. God promised them that they would become a great nation with the land of Canaan, and God would bless all humankind through them. The details can be seen in Genesis chapters 12, 15, and 17.
Covenant with Israel at Sinai
This covenant was made with the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai after their deliverance from slavery in Egypt through Moses. The details of this covenant can be seen in Exodus 20 onward. The history of the people of Israel during the time of this covenant can be seen from Exodus to Malachi in the Old Testament. This covenant gave elaborate stipulations and a system of rituals and sacrifices to the people of Israel. The heart of this covenant is the Ten Commandments, which are as follows:
You shall not have any other gods before me.
Exodus 20:1-3: "And God spoke all these words: 2 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 You shall have no other gods before me.'"You shall not make any images (idols) and worship them.
Exodus 20:4-6: "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."You shall not take the name of God in vain.
Exodus 20:7: "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name."Keep the Sabbath day as holy.
Exodus 20:8-11: "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."Honor your parents.
Exodus 20:12: "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you."You shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13)
You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)
You shall not steal. (Exodus 20:15)
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16)
You shall not covet. (Exodus 20:17)
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
Promise of the New Covenant:
The people of God failed to obey God in the Old Testament times. Thus, God promised the people about a new covenant through prophets (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:24-28).
Jeremiah 31:31-34: "31 'The time is coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,' declares the LORD. 33 'This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,' declares the LORD. 'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, "Know the LORD," because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,' declares the LORD. 'For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.'"
The New Covenant
As God promised to the people about the new covenant through the prophets (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:24-28), God made a new covenant with the people through Jesus Christ. This covenant is known as the new covenant or the New Testament.
A Special Note: How does the Bible divide as New Testament and Old Testament?
Testament means covenant. The division of the Bible into Old Testament and New Testament came from the concept of the Old Covenant and New Covenant. The covenant made especially with the people of Israel is known as the old covenant, which is primarily described in the first part of the Bible, that is, the Old Testament. The books in the Old Testament are based on the covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai. The new covenant made through Jesus is described in the second part of the Bible, that is, the New Testament. The books in the New Testament are based on the new covenant inaugurated by Jesus. However, this traditional naming of Old Testament and New Testament has technical and theological issues. The previous covenants are still important, relevant, and applicable. All previous covenants continue even in the new covenant time, except the ritualistic and sacrificial aspects. It is also derogatory to Jews to call their Bible the Old Testament. Thus, at present, people prefer to call the Old Testament the First Testament or Jewish Testament and the New Testament the Second Testament or Christian Testament.
What is Sacrifice?
God institutes sacrifices as part of God’s covenantal relationship with humans in order to save them from sin. The sacrifice is a means by which the covenant people can approach God. The sacrifices enabled people to express their relationship with God in the following ways:
a) To thank God: Sacrifices help people to express their thanks to God (Leviticus 7:12, 1:10-13).
b) To have fellowship with God (Leviticus 3).
c) To make atonement for sins:
The word atonement means "the action of making amends for a wrong or injury;" "reparation or expiation for sin." Atonement for sin is one of the important purposes of the sacrifice. Hebrews 9:22 says that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” The first five books of the Old Testament are filled with references to sacrifices and the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrificial animal for the forgiveness of sin. The Hebrew verb that is mainly used in the Old Testament for atonement is kāphar, which means "to cover over." The noun related to kāphar is kōphar, which means "ransom." The idea derived from these words is that sacrifices imply that the innocent life of an animal is ransomed or given in exchange for the guilt of the sinner. The sacrifice is a means which ensures that sin is covered by God’s forgiveness and is no longer seen or remembered. Thus, sacrifice was a means to set a right relationship with God by removing the guilt of sin. However, sacrifice was not a substitute for obedience (1 Samuel 15:22; Psalms 51:17; Proverbs 21:3). The people of God were already in a saving relationship with God through the covenant. The sacrifices were only an outward expression of an inward or personal response to God, which should be fully expressed to God through obedience to the word of God or covenant stipulations.
The Old Testament sacrifice is a shadow for Christ Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. According to the new covenant, the death of Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice for sins. It is evident from Hebrews 10:8-17:
"8 First he said, 'Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them' (although the law required them to be made). 9 Then he said, 'Here I am, I have come to do your will.' He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
In conclusion, God made a covenant with humankind to save them from sin along with the institution of sacrifice. Both covenant and sacrifice culminated in the new covenant that was established through the sacrificial death of Jesus for the sins of humans.
[1] Lawrence Boadt, Reading the Old Testament (New York: Paulist Press, 1984), 174.
Further Readings: